APCOM

Stakes are high, numbers prove it. For Milano the Expo 2015 could be a unique turning point. It can be seen as a huge font of richness and work. Over 4.1 billion Euro in funding for the event's production; another 10 billion of allocations for infrastructures; between 4 and 4.5 billion of expected services; 29 billion tourists during the six-month exhibition (from May to October); 7,000 happenings in the city and, above all, 70,000 jobs offered by the companies involved in the Fair's realization.

These numbers are epitomized and explained in the 1,200-page dossier used by Milano to introduce its candidature to the Bureau des Expositions. The two volumes also describe the single elements that will change the city. First of all the 200-metre high "Tower, the 'Via d'acciaio' (Steel road) and the 'Via di terra' (Land road), two itineraries that will connect Milano with the new Expo area, near the Rho-Pero exhibition center. The whole exhibition quarter (110 hectares) will be a "low emission zone": cars won't be allowed inside, as only electric vehicles, hydrogen shuttles and bicycles will be welcomed. Cooling and heating will be guaranteed by using clean systems, as solar energy. Besides, general Markets will host the 'City of Taste and Health'.

Above all, the Expo accelerates infrastructure projects: Just to name a few, two new underground lines and extension of the three existing ones, or the direct train connection between Malpensa airport and the new station of Pero-Rho. As for urban plans, the three skyscrapers by Libeskind, Isozaki and Hadid or the conversion of Bovisa into a technological center could transform Milano's look and life.